When Casimir reaches Brightgate, he isn't sure what to expect from the City of Monsters, though he's a monster himself. He definitely doesn't anticipate being attacked mere moments after arriving—or that he'd be rescued by Mikki, the city's rough-edged guardian angel.

He gets another unpleasant surprise in the form of ex-lover Jared, who instead of talking responds with violence, dead-set on exacting vengeance for the events that drove them apart. Given the way his visit is going, about the only thing Casimir is sure of is that the City of Monsters could very well be where he dies.

Maggie's Rating: Three Petals

Maggie's Review:

This is the first book I've had the opportunity to review with a trans* main character. I thought it added an interesting twist to the story and was handled delicately, but served a good purpose at enhancing Mikki as a character. Casimir's understanding of Mikki was refreshing in that he honestly didn't care.

The overall plot was basic, but well formed. Casimir accidentally killed a human important to a vampire and that vampire has been trying to get back at Casimir ever since. When Casimir decides to stop running, a fight ensues, dragging Mikki and some of Casimir's other friends into the battle. There aren't any sub-plots and there's almost zero depth to enhance this story, but I did enjoy reading what little was there.

Similar to the plot, there was very little depth to the world as well. At some point something happened and monsters were unleashed into the world. That's the only detail given, which was the bare minimum needed to give this story some setting. It fit with the simplicity of the rest of the book.

I do have one concern about the book. It was published by Less Than Three Press, which exclusively publishes romance, however Bloodguilty does not contain any romance whatsoever. Casimir and Mikki have a friendly relationship with a sexual aspect, but it's sex as a necessity for food, not for romance. The relationship also isn't set up as something that might eventually progress to more. I didn't mark Bloodguilty down any petals for it because I don't care whether there's romance or not, but I felt it was rather misleading.

Maggie's Recommendation:

Bloodguilty was a very simplistic book. There isn't much depth to the setting, plot, or characters. However, I did enjoy reading it and thought the little that was there was well written. I would recommend it, but I probably won't be rereading it.